I love Christmas. I always have. It is my favorite time of the year. There are so many traditions that our family has had over the years. It always starts with the annual Christmas tree cut down the day after Thanksgiving, trimming the tree with hot chocolate and "The miracle on 34th st", hanging lights, setting up our Christmas village and chili on Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpas.
This year is different. This year we will have a fake tree most likely. We don't even have it set up yet because we are still trying to get settled in our new home. Our village is in green buckets in our son's garage in Missouri and we won't be traveling home for Christmas this year. It is hard for all of us to get into the spirit of the season this year because so many of our traditions are not attainable. We were talking about how we can't let it steal our joy just this morning.
I was thinking about the song, "Joy to the World". What is it that should bring us joy this time of year. As the song goes, "Joy to the World, the Lord has come".
The joy of the season should come in remembering what the season is about. The Joy of the season comes from knowing that Jesus came to free us.
Mark Twain once said,"To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with." This season there is a whole lot of people who don't know joy and don't feel joy. So instead of thinking on the traditions we are missing out on, we are going to start some new ones.
We need your help! We plan to put together care packages for the homeless this year. These packages will include these items. T-shirt, socks, toothbrushes, soap, personal care items and holiday goodies.
If you want to divide the joy with us you can use the donate button on this page or contact us for information on how to donate.
I have found what it is to be all alone, yes it does seem to steal all of a persons joy over the holidays, last year I spent Christmas with my daughter and her husbands family and it was really great but still a part of my life was missing, this year I will be spending it here in Polson Montana and maybe working, if the weather and roads are good I may make it up to my parents. The one thing that I have got to always remember is that even if I'm alone, I'm not really alone, for Jesus is and will always be with me, and if I will just hold on to this, I can also hold on to the joy that Jesus has placed in my heart.
ReplyDelete